Mahou no Shinobi
by Yasei Kitsune
Summary: One day, Sarutobi got tired of the way Naruto was treated, so in order to train him he gave him a book, older then the ninja countries themselves. The book contained the knowledge of an ancient art. The art of magic.
1. Books, forms and chaos

To avoid possible confusion, both now and in the future, this story is _not_ a Harry Potter crossover, nor does it, or will it ever, contain Yaoi.

What this fic _does_ contain, is a powerful and smart Naruto. I love those types of fanfiction, and took it upon myself to try and write one. When I decided _how_ I would do it, I was stuck for a long, long time. Then, a really crazy idea popped into my head and I decided to write it down. The result is below.

Disclaimer: Do I own Naruto?

Naruto: No you don't.

Damn.

**Mahou no Shinobi **

Chapter 1: Books, forms and chaos.

Inside his office, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi, watched a young blonde haired boy struggle to get up. Through his crystal bal, he had witnessed how a group of villagers had mobbed the poor child, calling him demon, beating him and cutting him. They dared not stab him out of fear of the retributions of the Hokage should he die, but that did not lessen their drive to inflict pain on the poor child one bit.

Still, their actions were getting bolder and bolder. On the day of graduation, Mizuki had even tricked the boy into stealing the scroll of forbidden seals, and had nearly revealed the secret to Naruto. Fortunately, Sarutobi had intervened with a quick chop to the neck before the traitor could begin to reveal too much, but now he wondered if he had made the right choice. Not knowing the reason why you are hated was worse then knowing you were hated for a foolish one.

Guilt ripped through the old man's heart. He had hoped, he had hoped so much that the village would see him as the hero the Yondaime wished for him to see that he had done little to alleviate the pain the boy went through every day. Now, though, he could no longer ignore it. He would let the boy know that there were people whom would support him, before it was too late.

Sarutobi calmly, yet quickly walked towards his own personal library. It was a big one, but he was called 'the professor' in the ninja world so there was little surprise there. He paced through the room, trying to find a good scroll or book to give to Naruto. He knew that the academy teachers tried to prevent him from learning as much as they could, and he also knew that if he gave a scroll containing well-known techniques scrolls to naruto, the council would be in an uproar. They could not allow the demon to grow into a ninja, after all.

Sarutobi gritted his teeth. _"Fools. As if the Kyuubi would ever lower himself to learning human ninjutsu. If Naruto truly was the Kyuubi, then this village would no longer be standing."_

He paused at a chakra control scroll, but decided against it. Chakra control was easily detected, especially by Hyuuga, who held even more hatred for him then most, if at all possible. No, Naruto would need something… old. Something forgotten. Something he could practice without other people being aware of it.

Sarutobi paused, and then reached toward a cabin that held his greatest collection. Books of an age older then Konoha itself were lined up. The Hokage reached out and pulled out an ancient looking tome. It was a huge tome, with a black cover. On the cover itself was a strange symbol. A triangle, encased by a circle, the three sides of the triangle had smaller triangles pointing towards them as well, with each a strange symbol inside them. Inside the largest triangle were three circles, which also had a strange symbol in the center. The outside ring had entire rows of such symbols written on it, and many more circles of symbols were placed inside.

This was the oldest book in his collection, his great pride. Archeologists had dated the book to be before the creation of Konoha, before the creation of the shinobi countries. And yet, he had never read it. He couldn't, it simply did not feel right. As if he wasn't meant to read its content.

It was risky, giving this book to naruto. Not even he could predict what would happen if he gave the boy this book, and yet… something told him that this was the book that belonged to Naruto.

He nodded, and headed for Naruto's apartment. He had made his decision.

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Naruto's apartment could easily be described in one word: Miserable. The building was an old one, but where the other apartments had received maintenance and care, Naruto's looked like it had not been serviced for years.

And it probably hadn't.

The Sandaime Hokage sighed sadly as he read the half washed away graffiti on the walls, consisting of messages such as 'beware, demon' and 'go to hell' and once more questioned his judgment in letting the boy live alone.

He knocked on the door, but received no response. Sarutobi remained patient at the door, waiting half a minute before knocking again. The response was the same. He was about knock a third time until he heard a voice whispering from the other side.

"Who is it?"

Sarutobi felt his heart being wrenched from its socket as he heard the pain in the voice. Was Naruto so close to the breaking point that he no longer felt the need to put up his mask of smiles?

"It's me, oji-san." He answered.

The door slowly opened, and Sarutobi finally got a good look at Naruto.

The results made him feel both relief and terror.

Physically, Naruto was fine. A few patches of dirt, but that was it. There were no scrape or cut marks to be found. Sarutobi knew this was because of Kyuubi's regeneration abilities, but it put him at ease that the boy was at least physically fine.

Mentally, however, was another matter entirely. Naruto had tried to give him his patented fox grin, but it only managed to get halfway there. And his eyes, the window of the soul, displayed terror, sadness, and a lack of will to live.

"can I enter?" Sarutobi asked. He received a shrug in reply.

"Sure." Naruto answered as he opened the door fully and let the old man in. Sarutobi found a chair to sit on, and motioned for Naruto to sit on the bed. "So, whatcha here for old man?" Naruto decided to start.

"Two things. First, I heard you ran into… some trouble, this day." Naruto didn't say anything, but a flash of fear in his eyes told the Hokage everything. "I am here to explain why that happened."

"There is a reason?" Naruto asked.

The Hokage flinched at naruto's surprise when he was told there was a reason behind his misery. "Yes… although it cannot be called a good one. Has the academy taught you anything about the Kyuubi?"

"The legendary nine tailed demon fox who tried to destroy the village, he got killed by Yondaime when he attacking this village at the cost of said Hokage's life." Naruto summarized, letting his idiot mask slip for only a moment.

"Ah, that it was the books say, but as you know history is written by the victor, and does not necessarily have to be the truth."

Naruto tilted his head. "Then what is the truth?"

"Have you ever heard of a beiju being killed?" Sandaime asked. "In all the stories in all the countries, ours is the only one that tells of the death of a beiju. Every other Beiju that was defeated was sealed away in either an inanimate object or a person. Now, don't you think it is really strange that while every village in the world failed to kill a beiju, we managed to kill the strongest of them all?"

"Unless we didn't kill it." Naruto mused, realization dawned upon him. "We sealed it, just like the other countries have done."

"Yes, we sealed it. We sealed it in you."

Naruto just sat there, cross legged on his bed. He was stunned. But then again, what can you expect? He just got told that he had the strongest of the beiju sealed within him, and that the village hated him for it.

He blinked. "But wait, why does the village hate _me_ for that?"

Sarutobi sighed. "That, unfortunately, is human stupidity. The first time I told the people about you, I announced you as their savior and told them about the Yondaime's seal. One of the people then noted that Kyuubi was still alive, and proposed to kill you for good. Needles to say, I opposed, but many more cries came for your death. I made sure that nobody would try to kill you, and made a law that stated people were forbidden to talk about you being the container. Unfortunately, stories were still being spread, and grew wilder and wilder over time. Were you where the container at first, slowly you grew into a fusion with Kyuubi, to Kyuubi's reincarnation itself. Fear shaped you into something you weren't." Sandaime bowed his head. "And I did nothing to stop it. I trusted that the village would make the right decision, and I was wrong. Forgive me."

Naruto sighed as he let himself fall on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "There was little you could have done, anyway. The Hokage may be the leader of the village, but you can't command people's hearts. It is nice to know the reason people come in and smash my apartment, though. Not to mention toss me out of stores and refuse to teach me anything in the academy."

"That is the second thing I came here for." Sandaime said, causing Naruto to tilt his head until he was looking at the Hokage again. "I also came here to bring you something that might help you get stronger." He reached behind his back and brought out the tome. He handed it over to naruto, who stared at it in wonder.

"It looks old."

Sandaime nodded. "It is. It is older then the shinobi countries themselves. I could not risk giving you a ninja scroll. The council would be in uproar and make it impossible for you to train, so I gave you something much older."

Naruto nodded. "What does it contain?" he asked. Sandaime smiled as his kindness was rewarded with a look behind the boys mask, giving him a glimpse of the boys more intellectual side.

"I don't know. I never read the book. Whatever is inside is knowledge of a time long past, and it is yours now." Naruto could only nod as his eyes were wide as diner plates.

"Well, I must be going, before they noticed I ran from paperwork again and start to ask questions. Good luck, Naruto. Be sure to practice everything that is inside that book out of sight." And with those parting words, the Hokage left the worn down apartment. As he walked away he had one final thought. _"The boy needs a better place to live. Perhaps I can locate something more endurable."_

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back in the apartment, Naruto was sitting on his bed, cross legged with the tome in front of him. "Old man sure was right, this book is old." He ran his hand over the circle on the cover "And mysterious." He grinned. "Yosh! Time to unravel that mystery."

He opened the book, slowly and nervously and read the first paragraph.

_Guide to magic._

Naruto blinked. A guide? Not really what one would expect from an ancient book. Then again, magic sounded attractive. Maybe they meant jutsu?

_Magic is commonly known as one of the three strongest fighting abilities in the world. By casting spells, magicians have the ability __to do virtually anything. The only limit is the mind._

Well, that did sound very promising.

_To learn the arts of magic, one most first unlock the magic sleeping within.__ To do this you need to access what is called the magi form. The magi form is a form the body will take to properly channel mana, the source of energy for all spells. See chapter 2, page 3 for more information on mana. Magi forms are not required for elfs, half-elves or drow._

Okay, so they were definitely not talking about jutsu. Jutsu needed seals, not some 'magi form' Not to mention he never heard of elves.

_To unlock the magi form, place your hands on the magic circle drawn on the cover of this book. The circle should detect your presence and light up. When it does, call out 'bestow magic' this will cause the book to force a set amount of mana into your body, which will jumpstart your magi form._

Okay, sounds simple enough. Naruto nodded, he was tired of people walking over him. This was his chance to get stronger, he'd be a fool to let it simply lie there.

Placing his hands on the cover of the book, as instructed, he took a deep breath. No turning back. From this point it is always forward.

"Bestow magic!"

The effects were immediate. The magic circle on the cover started to glow a bright orange, and Naruto could feel a strange energy flowing through his body. It felt strange, it wasn't chakra, that much was certain. He felt the energy spread through every corner of his body. When it had done so, the magic circle on the book suddenly changed color, its bright orange suddenly changing to an equally bright pink. A wave of light flowed from the book, encasing Naruto in a cocoon of light. Naruto panicked, and tried to escape the wave, bout found his body unable to do so. Naruto had one last thought before he lost consciousness.

"_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."_

Then the world went black.

The light that returned to Naruto's eyes was painfully bright for some reason, making him wince. "Itetete, stupid light for being so bright, stupid book for making me pass out, stupid voice for being so high..." He blinked. "wait, voice?" The proverbal mental breaks came to a screeching halt as the last statement made its way to the root of his brain. "...since when does my voice sound so high?"

Naruto looked down at his body. His hands were thinner, and covered with very pale purple gloves that reached to halfway his upper arm. His body was longer... and slimmer.

Getting a sinking feeling in his stomach, Naruto dashed towards a mirror. Looking back at him was a pretty, young, _girl_. Long hair tied in a ponytail, being a dark pink or light purple color, depending on how you look at it (Naruto was slightly relieved to find it still quite messy) with eyes to match the hair. A large round orb served as an earring in the left ear. His clothing had changed as well. Besides the gloves, there were now two bracelets around his… her… no, his! wrists. The right one a golden color, the left one an emerald color. His orange jumpsuit had been replaced by a white sleeveless shirt, and red baggy pants. _(AN: There's a picture in my profile)_ After having studied his new appearance for a moment, Naruto did what every other proud man would do in such a situation.

He freaked out.

Falling backwards, landing on his but he began stammering. "wha- what? How? Girl? But!" Naruto's mind was swirling, how the hell did this happen? He knew he was trying to access his magi form, but this? Had he done something wrong? No, he had done exactly what the book had told him. A flash of realization made his body jerk.

The book! If anything had the answer, it would be the book! He scurried over to the book, opened it, and found the page where he had left of.

_Be warned, magi forms are completely random. While most people change in simple ways, __such as pointy ears, wings or tails, it is not unheard of for people to change completely. Remember, the magi form is required to be able to cast spells._

Silence reigned through the apartment, until it was broken by a very, _very_ loud voice.

"NAAAAAAAAAANIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!?"

_If you do not like how your magi form turned out, don't worry. The first spell we will be practicing is how to turn back to your normal form. However, there is nothing we can do about the appearance of your magi form._

Naruto sighed in relief. At least he wouldn't be like this forever.

_First, we will go over the basics of mana, turn to chapter 2 page 3._

_Guide to magic, chapter 2: mana._

_Mana is the source of energy necessary to cast even the basic amongst spells. It exists of pure mental energy, drawn and refined into use for combat, support or healing spells. The energy you felt coursing through you when you unlocked your magi form was a sample of mana. Like all energies, mana too has a chance to grow and increase. Unlike chi, used by martial artists and exists purely of physical energies, mana cannot be trained by the body. Instead, mana is trained by knowledge. They are mental energies, thus as the mind of the user grows, so does his or her supply of mana. This often leads to the false accusation that all mages do is sit in libraries and read books, while in fact we are training. Just not in the same way that chi-users do. _

_So, now that we know the basics of what mana is, let us focus on how to draw upon it. The goal of the spell we are going to use is so simple; it is actually not even worth calling it a spell. However, it is simple and easy to use, making it perfect for our first try. The goal of this spell is to revert out of your magi form, and back into your normal self. The process of calling up on mana goes as follow…_

Naruto was completely captivated by the book. This book meant new abilities, new possibilities, and finally, something unique. Something just for him. He ended up studying and practicing all night.

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The next day, at the mission office people certain people were… less then pleased with a certain orange wearing blonde.

Sarutobi drew in a large puff of smoke from his pipe. "So you mean to tell me that the client refused to pay because Naruto fell asleep on the ladder and the can of paint dropped to the floor?"

"Yes! He completely screwed up the mission." Sakura huffed.

"Hn. That dobe couldn't even paint properly if he tried." Sasuke remarked.

Kakashi only sighed. He knew that the can of paint wasn't the real reason the client refused to pay. Had Sasuke dropped the can, the old lady would have waved it of and tell them she would send for another mission to clean it up.

No, the real reason was that it was _Naruto_ who dropped the can, and the old lady wanted to do everything to get a failed mission on his record. He could still remember hear her, muttering with a wide grin. "Now that demon will get demoted for sure." She had muttered. Kakashi had resisted the urge to snort. As if he would be demoted for failing a D-rank mission. Hell, if Hokage-sama had anything to say about it, it wouldn't even _be_ on his record.

Sarutobi sat back in his chair and blew out a long puff of smoke. "Very well, I will handle it. Team 7, you can go home. Naruto, I want to speak with you in my office."

Kakashi send a surprised, and somewhat betrayed look towards the Sandaime, who returned it with a calm reassuring one. Kakashi calmed down, and nodded. Sandaime just wanted to talk to Naruto about something not related to today. Taking out his orange book, he followed his team. Both of which had victorious smirks from getting of the hook.

Naruto merely shrugged as he followed Sandaime towards his office. "Now then." Sandaime said as he took place in his chair.

"If it's about the mission, I don't want to hear it. Sakura has talked my ears deaf about that already." Naruto interrupted.

Sandaime raised an amused eyebrow. "Was I talking about today's mission?" he chuckled at Naruto's confused look. "Naruto, the only time you are tired enough to actually fail a mission through exhaustion is when you spend the entire night training, or practicing. So tell me, what did the book teach you?"

Naruto grinned and stepped to the center of the room. Once there, he spread his arms, holding the palms away from each other. Sandaime looked on in confusion. What Naruto was doing disabled him from using any handseals at all, thus negating him from using any type of ninjutsu.

Without moving a single muscle, an orange glowing symbol appeared on the floor, right beneath Naruto's feet. Sandaime immediately recognized the symbol as the same one that was on the cover of the tome. Suddenly, the symbol changed from its orange color to a bright pink one. A wind picked up, carrying unseen dust in the air that swirled around Naruto while he himself was encased in a layer of bright light unil he was completely obstructed from view. When the light and dust settled down, there was now a pink haired girl in Naruto's place.

Sandaime was blinking. This looked like a more advance henge... or something, not exactly what he was expecting. Further thoughts were interrupted by Naruto

"Watch this oji-san!" The girl responded with a typical Naruto grin, as she stretched out one arm forward, and let a sphere of light hover above it. The sphere increased in size and brightness, and then shrunk again. "This is just one of the support spells. A simple light spell." The girl spoke, voice filled with unbridled pride and excitement. "I can't show any of the attack spells, cause they're aimed to destroy a lot. I'd blow up your office if I showed you here.

Sandaime's eyes widened as the implications of what Naruto told him sank in. He was now, for all intents and purposes, able to do jutsu without handseals! "Naruto..." He spoke. "Do you have any idea how powerfull this ability is? To do jutsu without handseals! Even jounin, no, even Kage can only do small jutsu without handseals!"

The girl shook her head as another pink symbol appeared beneath her feet. Another dust cloud rose, and after the bright light Naruto was back where he had gone. "Not jutsu, oji-san, spells."

Sandaime tilted his head. "I'm not sure I understand. Could you explain in more detail?" And so Naruto did. He told Sandaime about mana, about how he had opened up his mana supply, about magi forms and the nature of spells. All the while Sandaime was smiling. It had turned out to be a good idea to give Naruto that book after all. Not only did it give Naruto a chance to let his hidden intellectual side out, but if Sandaime wasn't mistaken –which he hardly was- then Naruto was doing something right here, in this office, what he hadn't done in a long time.

Smiling a true smile, one not covered by his mask of grins.

Yes, giving him the book certainly was a good idea.

"Oji-san, I have a favor to ask of you." Naruto told the old man, after he had finished his explanation.

"What is it?" Sandaime asked, fully knowing that Naruto hardly ever asked for favors.

Naruto took a deep breath. "I would like to have my skills at magic registered as Uzumaki clan Hijutsu. Protected for privacy by the Hokage himself, and able to release only by me."

Sandaime clasped his hands and let his chin rest on the back of the palms. He had thought this through. Without the use of chakra, Sasuke would not be able to copy his spells. But if he pressured his teacher, Kakashi could ask Naruto to teach Sasuke his abilities, it was fully within Kakashi's right to claim it was for the good of the team, and Sandaime had no doubt in his mind that Kakashi would easily relent to the Uchiha survivor's demands. However, Naruto had finally found something for himself, something that the Uchiha did not, and could never posses. Making these new abilities Uzumaki clan Hijutsu would enable a level of secrecy that not even he, the Hokage, could penetrate without Naruto's consent. The council would be in an uproar to find such powerful abilities in the hands of the Kyuubi-brat.

But if it could make Naruto smile. Really smile. Then it was worth it. He had neglected his duty as Hokage towards this child of the village for long enough.

"Very well, Naruto. Starting today, all use of magic inside Konoha is Uzumaki clan Hijutsu. From this day on, you are Uzumaki Naruto, ninja and Konoha's sole magic user."

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Well, that was chapter one. Now, I know one or two people might be asking themselves "why Arche?" Truth is, I don't know! Here's a possible explanation, though: I have been toying with the idea of Naruto disguising himself to have something of a normal life, but before I could even start to write that down, I watched the Tales of Phantasia OVA (seriously, despite being vague if you haven't played the game, its worth to watch. Go youtube it, at the very least if only for the action), and thought how cool a magic using Naruto can be. Combine those ideas, and you get this. And no, there will be no Yaoi. Just because Naruto turns into a girl when he wants to cast spells does not mean he suddenly falls for boys, that just doesn't make sense. It's more like… a Ranma thing, if you will.

That's all for now, Read and Review please.

No seriously. Review. Authors need reviews like a car needs gas.


	2. Sasuke, the weakest link?

**Mahou no Shinobi**

Chapter 2: Sasuke, the weakest link?

Today the schedule was training for team 7, and Naruto sat on his bed, wondering what to do. He had considered taking the book and studying, but he decided he didn't want to take the risk in having his team-mates stealing his newfound abilities. Especially Sasuke.

So what to do? The book said that to increase your mana pool you have to increase your knowledge. Maybe the library had some books he could use. That being said, he went of to the library.

The library was big. No, it was more then big. It was _huge_. Naruto silently wondered why he never visited the library before, mask or no mask. Now, which books would be most suited to study? Naruto folded his arms in thought and nodded, a near unconscious gesture his mask would do. _"History books won't do. Maybe books of legends, or theory books over the arcane, but where to find them? "_ He tried asking the librarian, but she just gave him a glare.

"I don't help demons." She spat. Naruto barely resisted the urge to groan. He had never even _seen_ this woman before, and yet she hated him just as much as everyone else. He grumbled and walked of. A grin appearing on his face. If he'd just henge into a chuunin-

"And don't think about trying to fool me as a henge!" The libarian called after him, adjusting her glasses. "As a librarian I am instructed to detect high level genjutsu to prevent spies from taking valuable information! There is no way you will be able to get past me!"

"_Well, there went that idea." _Naruto thought dejectedly. If she could detect even high level genjutsu, there was no way that he could slip by with a measly genin level genjutsu. In fact no jutsu at all would help.

He blinked.

No _jutsu_ would help.

But he had more then just jutsu.

Naruto snickered as he hid in a dark corner behind a bookcase. He focused on his mana pool, and started drawing out the mental energy. Immediately he felt the familiar sensation of mana coursing through his body, and felt his body began to change shape. After a few moments, a dark pink haired girl stepped away from the corner with a smile. She walked to the librarian with a smile. "Excuse me, could you tell me where I might find books of legends long past?"

The librarian gave the new girl in front of her a critical stare. This could still be the demon, after all he was known for his stupidity to try things over and over. Still, when she could detect no genjutsu, or ninjutsu of any kind she let a smile return to her face. "Yes, of course, the books on legends are on the second floor, in the western part in the centre bookcase."

The girl took a deep bow, clasping her hands and lowering them with the bow, close to her knees. "Arigatou gozaimasu!" She thanked, before lightly running of to the appointed bookcase.

"Such a polite girl." The librarian spoke.

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Naruto was almost cackling insanely. Almost being a key word. This magi form turned out to be convenient in more ways then just spellcasting.

Focussing on the books, he tried to find anything related to magic. Book after book was pulled of the shelves and scanned. Still, even after many books, Naruto still hadn't found a book with which he could increase his training. Books on magic were either completely fake, and contained useless so-called ways to use magic, or they were observations of empires and kingdoms long by, with little to no information about the powers they utilized.

Sighing in defeat, Naruto returned to the books containing history of the ninja countries and started reading. If being a magic user meant that he needed to increase his knowledge, then he might as well start with the knowledge he was most likely to encounter in the field. He grinned. If Iruka-sensei were to see him now...

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It was the next morning, and team 7 was supposed to gather at their usual meeting point on the bridge. Haruno Sakura slightly increased her pace, knowing that Sasuke would be strictly on time. When she arrived at the bridge though, she did not see Sasuke. That in itself was little of a surprise, since she took great care in arriving before her dark haired love. The surprising thing was her blonde haired teammate.

If this day was like any other, then Naruto would usually arrive either after Sakura, but before Sasuke, or after both Sakura and Sasuke had already arrived. In either way he would pester her for date invites as soon as he laid eyes on her. Honestly, couldn't he see that she wasn't interested? He truly was a blonde. Still, right now said blonde was already sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the bridges sides, and was… reading? No matter, it couldn't be long before h noticed her, so deciding to take a preemptive measure, Sakura raised her and called to Naruto. "No Naruto, I will not go out on a date with you. When will you ever learn that…" She broke of when she noticed no response at all was forthcoming from the blonde haired annoyance.

Looking back towards him, she noticed that Naruto was still engrossed in his book. At this moment, Sakura had two different emotions coursing through her. The first was irritation, which was caused by the simple fact that Naruto was ignoring her. The second, and more powerful one, was curiosity. Had Naruto ignored her any other way, irritation would have won. But the simple fact that Naruto was reading a book,_ a book_, not a jutsu scroll but a book, made curiosity gain the upper hand.

Slowly walking up to Naruto, Sakura dropped in a crouch to view the cover. The book map of all the shinobi nations in all their glory, and above it was printed in large letters "What to know when traveling the elemental countries." Sakura recognized the book, it was written by a non-shinobi author, and was meant to be an all round information manual towards all the elemental countries, both ninja wise and not. She had never read the book, as it wasn't included in the academy lesson material, but she never heard anything else then good things about the book.

Her train of thought was brought to a halt, however, when a certain dark haired teammate arrived on the bridge. Sakura shoved the Naruto-is-reading mystery out of her mind and dashed over the last Uchiha.

Said Uchiha did not fail to notice two thin on his arrival. The first being that Naruto was here before him. Not too surprising, since it did happen from time to time, but the fact that Naruto did not rub in the fact that he was here before him raised a small alarm bell. The second thing was that not only did Naruto not rub in the fact that he was earlier then him, but also the fact that Naruto was reading a book, completely ignoring him.

"Oi, dobe." Sasuke called. He was sure that would get a rise out of Naruto, it always did. Unfortunately, the only reaction he got from the blonde was the turning of another page. This, of course, pissed Sasuke off to no ends. Ever since the Uchiha massacre, Sasuke had been eralded a hero. Girls flocked him, elderly respected him, but most of all, _nobody_ ignored him. Sasuke had become so accustomed to having all the attention that in his opinion, ignoring him had turned into a serious offence. He was the last Uchiha, he _deserved_ attention.

Sasuke stepped forward to rip the book our of Naruto's hand, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, he was interrupted by a loud poof, heralding their sensei's arrival. At the same time of the poof, a slightly les loud snap of a closing book also sounded through the area. This caused Sasuke's eyes –which had been distracted by Kakashi's arrival- to refocus on Naruto, who was now calmly tucking away his book in his backpack. Sasuke's fury spiked to new levels. If Naruto had heard kakashi's arrival, then that meant that the dobe hadn't ignored Sasuke because he hadn't heard him while he was reading, but had been purposely ignoring him.

Kakashi could feel the tension coming from his team. He silently wondered why. He wasn't late today, so that couldn't be it. He observed two glares aimed at Naruto, and concluded that Naruto did something to anger his team again. Kakashi sighed. He had hoped that Naruto would grow some maturity during his time with his team, but with the way he kept annoying his teammates, that did not seem likely. Perhaps the little training program he had scheduled for today would make Naruto see that.

"Ohayo, team 7. Today is training day, and I have constructed a little test. Training area 88 has recently been refitted with animated targeting dummies, and we are the lucky team who get first dibs on testing them. The goal is to reach the clearing in the centre, where three scrolls will be waiting on a single tree stump. Each one of you can pick one scroll of your choice, first comes first served. Good luck." And with that, Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke."

"Yarre yarre." Naruto said as he stood up and shook his head. "And he didn't even tell us where area 88 is."

"Hn, what, you don't know dobe?" Sasuke said, completely ignoring the fact that these were the first words Naruto spoke. He did notice that they were a lot… calmer then his usual words, but he filed that away for later. Right now, he had some frustration to take out.

"Oh, I do." Naruto replied. "The question is, do you?"

Sasuke could not restrain the twitch shooting through his body. It wasn't so much that the dobe had doubted him, he did that all the time, but it was the fact that he was _right_ that unnerved him. Sasuke's usual route was school-home-train. Being the sole owner of the Uchiha compound meant that he never had any lack for training room, or materials. Hell, he barely knew his way around the village. Sure, he knew how to get to the Hokage tower, the main gate, and the bridge, but that about ended it. He even had to ask a villager for directions to the location where they had later passed the bell test.

Of course, he would never admit to such a thing, so instead he turned to naruto and smirked. "Hn; then why don't you show us just how well you know the way?"

Naruto sighed at the lame dodge. Of course, Sakura believed him and immediately joined him in demanding Naruto show the way. So instead of wasting time arguing like he would usually do, he merely jumped up a roof and started running towards the area. Sasuke quickly caught up, and positioned himself slightly before Naruto, following his movements, but making it seem as if he was the one leading them. Naruto visibly twitched at the action. _"Sonova…"_

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Arriving at the area, Naruto whistled at the change. Last time he saw this place, it had been a sandy place, covered with mountains upon mountains of sand. Now he saw why they had done that. A place filled with hills, streams, waterfalls and most importantly a huge forest now covered the dig site it used to be. Heh, he could still remember the huge pits and stone walls that made the place an excellent spot to hide from his latest prank victims. He wondered what had happened to the traps he had set up here. Probably they were all cleaned up when this place was rebuilt. It had been three months since he last came here, but to grow such a huge forest in such a short time… a mokuton user perhaps?

"What's the matter dobe, scared?"

Naruto snorted at Sasuke's pathetic attempt at an insult. "As if, I'm just surprised at how much this place has changed in the last few months. It's been a while since I've last been here."

"Yeah right Naruto." Came the huffing voice of a tired Sakura. "You were probably lying and have never even have seen this place before. If it wasn't for Sasuke leading us here, you would never have been here at all."

Naruto, not in the mood for futilely trying to point out that it was him, not Sasuke, who led them here, chose to shut her up by saying. "No comment from the little girl who is exhausted by such a light run." That, in fact, did shut her up, as she noticed that both Sasuke-kun and Naruto were hardly even winded by the run they had made. If anything, they looked properly warmed up.

Of course, a quiet Haruno does not stay quiet for long.

"Sh- shut up, Naruto! What is with you today, trying to act all high-and-mighty by ignoring us! And what's with the books? Do you really think _you_ can get smarter by reading them?"

Now, Naruto was fighting the urge to yell back, or strike back. Sasuke had been acting high-and-mighty ever since he could remember, and now Sakura was talking down on him because he chose to do so for once? This was getting ridiculous. "Sasuke, lets just start and leave Haruno here whining. We both know that this is a race between the two of us anyway."

"Hn." Sasuke responded with a smirk. Though it was completely out of character for Naruto to talk back to Sakura, he had to agree. But he was amused by the fact that Naruto thought he would be able to challenge him. "Do you truly think you will be able to win this race, dobe?"

"I don't think, Sasuke." Naruto replied. "I know."

"Then in that case, you take the west entrance, I take the east. Sakura can stay here and take the south entrance. I'll show you that you cannot even hold a candle against my power."

"Oh, I'll show you a lot more then just a candle, teme."

Both boys darted to their appointed start lines, leaving a broken and confused Sakura behind. She was used to Sasuke giving her the cold shoulder, and always blamed Naruto for that. It had to be, hadn't it? Because Naruto always asked her out for dates, so her Sasuke-kun thought that she was going with Naruto. But now even Naruto was giving her the cold shoulder, and Sasuke's attitude towards her hadn't changed a bit.

Sakura could feel the tears well up in her eyes, and did nothing to stop them. She felt… alone, so alone in her own team. A loud poof behind her made her whirl around, and she stood face to face with her sensei. "Ka-kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried out, and hurried to dry her tears.

"He's right, you know." Kakashi said. The words cut deep into Sakura, but she hurriedly found an attempt to stave them.

"Who's right, sensei?" she asked, feigning ignorance.

"Naruto." Kakashi answered calmly. "Right now, you don't even come close to either of those two to present them anything resembling a challenge. You neglected your training all this time, I had hoped wave would have taught you that this was not some dreamscape where your knight in shining armor will come to sweep you of your feet, but I was wrong. Even Naruto strives to improve more then you do. Right now, you are little more then dead weight dragging the team down." He knew the words were cold, and would hurt. But better they hurt here where she could improve, then out there where she would die.

Sakura just saw her world get torn up in front of her, both by her blonde haired teammate and silver haired sensei. Were they right? Was she just dead weight? No! She had better chakra control then Naruto, she was better then him!

… was she? Sakura remembered what Naruto had said shortly after they arrived at the training area. She had been exhausted while both Sasuke and he could keep going.

"_Just like back at wave." _Sakura thought. Thinking about Naruto caused another memory to resurface. "Kakashi-sensei, don't you think Naruto was a bit… weird today? He acted a lot colder then usual. No wait, he acted cold, period. Naruto is never cold! Especially towards me!"

Kakashi sighed. "Bend something too much, and it will snap." He told his pink haired student.

"Eh?" Was Sakura's response.

"Think about the way you treated him, Sakura. You will find the answer in there. But for now, you have a race to participate in."

'What? But I can't…"

"If you wish to remain a dead weight forever, then by all means keep thinking like that. But if you actually want to mean something for the team, then go. Use this forest not as a racing ground, but as a training ground. Go, and improve, before you lose sight of them." With that, he disappeared once again in a cloud of smoke.

Sakura dried the remaining tears, and looked out towards the forest with a glare. _"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. I will improve. I will show Sasuke-kun that I too, am a part of this team, and not a dead weight."_ She thought, and entered the forest.

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While Kakashi had told Sakura that Naruto's attitude change was most likely because of her treatment towards him, he too wondered what had happened to his blonde student. He had observed them as they made their way for training area 88, and the first thing he noticed was that Naruto did not waste time trying to trick Sasuke, who obviously had no idea where to go. While at first he was happy with the maturity Naruto had showed in doing so, his reaction to Sakura's insults had worried him.

He had looked as if he was tempted to just outright yell in her face, something which was not unexpected for anyone bearing the brunt of such a massive insult flood from two teammates. But the fact that it was Naruto who was about to yell surprised him. Up until today, he had never reacted so fiercely towards Sakura. Hell, he had never reacted like that at all. It almost reminded him off… Sasuke.

Arriving at the route Sasuke had chosen, Kakashi was pleased to see he had judged his raven haired subordinate's patterns closely. Flurries of kicks made short work of any lone dummy, and volleys of Housenka and Gokakyuu made short work of the groups. Kakashi did note that the strain of firing so many fire jutsu was taking its toll on the Uchiha, slowing him down.

He decided he had seen enough of the Uchiha's actions, and decided to check upon Naruto. He quickly calculated how far Naruto could get while using Kage bunshin to keep the dummies bussy and hurried to the point. When he got there, though, all he saw were obliterated pieces of dummies, scattered throughout the woodwork. Some were still active, as if they activated too late to stop whomever did this from rushing past. Kakashi noticed that many of the pieces were damaged by fire based attacks.

"_But why would Naruto use fire based attacks? Unless…" _His earlier thought of how much Naruto's recent behavior seemed to remind him of Sasuke returned. _"Could he have learned Gokayuu in order to seem more like Sasuke? It is a library jutsu after all… but why? Why would Naruto go through so much trouble to look like Sasuke? What does Sasuke have that interests him so? Money? No, Naruto never was much of a money grabber. Then why? Sasuke is cold and clam, Naruto happy and cheerful. Sasuke is loved by all, and Naruto is…" _Kakashi slammed his palm into his forehead. That was it! Naruto was jealous of Sasuke's love, while he has to suffer.

Kakashi leaped back into the trees, hurrying to catch up with his blonde haired subordinate. He only hoped he was wrong, because if his suspicions were right, then teamwork in team seven was about to get shot to hell.

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While Kakashi was having words with Sakura, Naruto was sprinting down the forest. "Damn this place changed a lot." he said as he jumped from rock to rock. By the time he hit the eight rock, a large wooden humanoid figure fell from the trees. The wooden puppet carried no weapons, but immediately dove for Naruto who dodged to the side.

"So, the fun is beginning, ey? Right! I don't have time to mess with you too long, cause I got a race to win!" The magic circle appeared beneath his feet, and wind picked up. As soon as it lowered, Naruto in magi form stood before the puppet. "Now the fun can really begin!" He called has he raised his palm towards the puppet. Focusing mana towards the palm of his hand, a small orb of fire appeared as he gathered the energy required for the most well known fire spell of all.

"Fireball!"

With that, the ball grew in size, and shot forward to the dummie, who was hit dead center and exploded in a shower of charred wood. "Yatta! First field practice of offensive magic, complete! Now for the support magic, lets see if I can get this to work." Spreading his gloved hands and lowering them to his sides, he closed his purple eyes and focused his mana to his now female body. He willed it to ignore the laws of gravity, to move freely. As he felt the effect take shape, he empowered it with the words that were the spell. "Levitation!"

No sooner had he said it, and his body lifted up from the ground. Naruto opened his eyes again, and grinned at the result. "Yatta! Now to win this race!" And with renewed vigor, Konoha's sole magic user sped through the air. Any dummy that dared cross his path was met with fireballs that scattered their charred pieces through the forest. With the speed Naruto was moving through the air, and without the need to stop in order to attack, she even dashed past many of the dummies that had been lying in ambush for those who were locked in close combat.

Suddenly, he sensed danger from above and whirled around in mid air to see a group of six dummies land in front of him. These dummies were different from the ones before, as he could see tougher armor and various types of melee weapons in their hands. "Last fight before the win, huh? Well, bring it!" As if hearing his command, the dummies charged forward Naruto back flipped backwards with ease due to his levitation, and with a loud cry of "Fireball!" The first dummie exploded in a rain of superheated metal and charred wood. The second, however, used the blast to launch itself at Naruto. Thinking very fast, Naruto raised his hands towards the incoming dummie and called out "Stone Rain!" Immediately a hail of stones and boulders ripped themselves free of the ground and crushed the wooden adversary.

Naruto, now with renewed vigor after seeing his this spell work in the field, refocused on the four remaining dummies. Deciding to finish this in one shot, Naruto charged another fireball, but increased the amount of mana one would normally pump into one. While the size of the ball did not change so much, when Naruto launched it, it exploded with much more force then the previous ones. The four remaining puppets were completely obliterated.

After literally blasting his way through the lines, he arrived at the clearing. Disengaging his magi form and returning to his normal boy self, he immediately dashed for the only treestump in the clearing, on which were laid out the scrolls, and rapidly scanned their titles.

'Advanced katon jutsu'

'Chakra control'

'Legends of the land of fire'

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. He could almost see his and his teammate's names written on the scrolls! It was obvious that the 'Advanced katon jutsu' scroll would go to Sasuke, whereas the 'Chakra control' scroll would go to Naruto and the 'Legends of the land of Fire' would go to Sakura. That bastard Kakashi, the asshole knew that the old Naruto, his mask, would immediately dive for the technique scroll. He also knew that Sasuke would do so as well, so he placed a Chakra control scroll as second prize. Kakashi never had any faith that _he_ would be the one to arrive first!

Naruto gritted his teeth. He'd show them. He'd show them all! He no longer needed jutsu scrolls, he no longer needed chakra control. Grabbing the third scroll, he glared at the forest. He would break the routine, no longer would they face the old Naruto. To hell with his mask! He hadn't worn it the entire day, and he felt better then ever!

"You don't like the old Naruto?" Naruto spoke to no-one in particular. "Then have it your way! From this day on, there is no more annoying, idiotic, loud baka in team 7! From now on you will see the real Naruto!" He growled "Better prepare yourself, because I can guarantee you won't like him one bit!"

He lowered his gaze back to the hand that held his prize, a prize that the Naruto of old would have found useless. But this was not the old Naruto. No, this was the real one. The mask was shattered and cast away. And this real Naruto saw the value in the scroll, and even the possible treasures it contained. Choosing a spot to sit down, he unrolled the scroll and began reading its content. Not even five minutes later, a grin formed on his face. The scroll was just another legend, but if you would read between the lines, you could see a puzzle. A puzzle that challenged out to everyone who could see it to solve it.

And who was Uzumaki Naruto to back away from a challenge?

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Hatake Kakashi was a proud jounin. He had been in the anbu for years, made jounin when he was twelve, and outranked many people in the village.

But right now, he did not know what to do.

After he had hurried over to the finish line, he could only see Naruto standing over the scrolls. This alone surprised Kakashi, for he had thought that Sasuke would be the one to win the race, with him being an Uchiha with the sharingan and superior jutsu and all. Even with the destruction he had witnessed on Naruto's path, he had steadfastly maintained belief that Sasuke would win.

But there was no Sasuke in sight, Naruto now stood staring at the scrolls.

This was another surprise for Kakashi. He had thought that Naruto would immediately dive for the katon scroll, and started cheering the fact that he had defeated his rival to the entire village. Instead, he was staring at the scrolls, and seemed to be… seething? Kakashi blinked. Why would Naruto be seething, he had won hadn't he? He would be able to get a scroll containing cool fire based jutsu. He'd be more like Sasuke.

Uh-oh.

Kakashi suddenly realized his mistake. Because of his trust in his analytical skills, he had put down the scrolls way to themed, to suit everyone's personality, or in Naruto's case what to improve. And in doing so, he had unconsciously send a message to Naruto, telling him that there was no way he was good enough to beat Sasuke.

Kakashi had seriously screwed up.

Since when did Naruto become so serious about these kinds of things, anyway? Had something happened to him? Had the villagers been ransacking his apartment again? Did something worse happen?

Then, Naruto surprised him again, by grabbing neither the jutsu scroll nor the chakra scroll, but the legend scroll. Then he heard Naruto's proclamation, which caused his mood to sink even more. _"He thinks… this team doesn't like him?"_

It was then that Sasuke chose to make his appearance.

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"_Heh, I told the dobe that he wasn't a challenge, but I suppose someone like him has to be shown what a true Uchiha can do." _As Sasuke strode forward to claim his just reward, he noticed one thing. One thing that he did not like one bit. Instead of three scrolls, as Kakashi had told them, there were only two scrolls lying on the stump.

Sasuke's eyes whipped around the clearing, until they came to rest on a certain blonde haired figure. _"No… Impossible!"_

Naruto looked up from his scroll only to see Sasuke staring at him with surprise etched on his face. "You done staring at me, Uchiha? I told you I would beat you back at the starting line, what's the surprise for?"

"You… I… How did you get here so fast!" Sasuke cried, confusion and frustration welling up in him.

"Flying." Naruto answered. Of course, Sasuke would never believe that, despite that fact that it was an honest answer, but no need to tell the Uchiha that. He had gotten the Uchiha pretty frustrated, feeling inferior. Just the way he used to feel. He would not, however, rub it in just yet. Oh no, he would save his ammo for when it served him best.

"There's no way you could have gotten here before me, you cheated!"

"Wait wait wait, role back there for a moment. Ninja aren't allowed to cheat? Then what was with the 'all is fair in the ninja world' crap you pulled on me when you knocked me down during that time when we tried to see who could stick to the bottom of a tree branch? Besides, how the hell am I supposed to cheat in a straight line race!"

Just like with Sakura back at the start, Sasuke just saw his world torn to shreds. Naruto had beaten him. _Naruto!_ The dobe, the idiot, the dead last, the loser, had beaten him. _Him!_ Uchiha Sasuke! Last survivor of the Uchiha clan and number one rookie of the year!

"Sharingan!"

"Yes, copying me sitting against a tree reading a scroll is certainly going to make you a lot stronger. Face it Uchiha, you raced me and you lost. Simple, easy, and the goddamn truth! Now come on, I believe I heard Sakura scream just now. I think she encountered the last line."

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Review time, staring Yasei and Kyuubi

We zoom in on a young man, short hair spiked backwards, wearing black baggy pants and a camo T-shirt with the words 'you can't see me' printed in large yellow letters on the front. As the camera closes in on him, he looks up.

"Oh, it's over already? Well then, welcome to my humble abode. I am Yasei Kitsune, the author of Mahou no Shinobi. And this is my pal, Kyuubi no kitsune." At this point the camera zooms out slightly and a horse sized Kyuubi comes into view. "In this last part of the fic, Kyuubi and I will discuss some of the reviews send my way. I was initially planning to do this alone, but when Kyuubi found out how little screen time he would get in this particular fic, he insisted he be here to assist me. Kyuubi, if you will?"

"**Thank you Yasei. Now, the first couple of reviews have little to discuss. Compliments, encouragements, although one of them does state he or she would rather have had Naruto with wings."**

"I still have that in the back of my mind for another fic."

At this point Kyuubi sends Yasei a glare.** "Don't you dare start yet another one. _Finish_ one first, for Origin's sake."**

Yasei returned the glare. "Hush, you, easy on the spoilers."

Kyuubi snorted.** "Right right, anyway as I said, many compliments and encouragements. No flames as of yet, which is always a good sign. Wandring around does not like your gender changing, though. He suggests using my influence to turn him into a kitsune, or at least a half-kitsune."**

Yasei smiles at the notion. "Ah, well there is a conscious reason I chose not to do that. Outside of the storyline, the 'Naruto becomes a kitsune' is done and done. I like to read it, but didn't want to write yet another one. In terms of the story, it can't be done. You see Kyuubi here is a chakra using demon, he can't use mana. And since it is mana that decides your magi form, Kyuubi's presence had no influence whatsoever."

"**Stupid mana." **Kyuubi grumbles, before he continues to read.** "Amin 1-2-3 wonders if this is a Mahou Sensei Negima crossover. I don't think that's very likely, as you didn't start to read that manga until _after_ you started writing this."**

"It's probably the title. However, Kyuubi is right. This is not a Mahou Sensei Negima crossover. If it was, I would have kicked Naruto to Kanto to live a happy life."

"**Finally, Aerinoutlander notes that he's not sure he likes the gender changing. He doesn't make any suggestions as to why, though."**

Yasei shrugs. "I was expecting that. Possibly afraid this will turn into a Yaoi fic. Tell me, Aerin. Did you ever watch Ranma ½ ? It's a story about a guy who falls in a cursed spring. Whenever he gets splashed with cold water, he turns into a girl. Hot water reverses the effect. The result is mistaken identities and pure comedy galore. Now, this fic follows those guidelines in a loose form. Which means that, though there will be hardheaded boys who fall for Naruto's magi form, he will _not_ return their affection. Any boy who falls for Naruto's magi form will do so purely for comical purposes."

"**Well, that was all for now. Still, sixteen reviews for one chapter. Not bad, Yasei."**

"Thank you, Kyuubi. Now, as for you readers, R&R stands for read, but more importantly, _review!_ Now please do so, 'cause I got a friend who needs to stretch his legs." Yasei notes, nodding towards Kyuubi, who gives the readers a toothy grin.

"**Yes, by all means don't review. There was so little to eat in the brat's body."**

"You heard the man, read and review!


	3. A new place, a new start!

Sorry, no new chapter just yet. However, I did re-write the ending of this chapter. Many reviewers were not happy with the ending, but most importantly, so was I. I also fixed the little chronological bug in chapter one (can't believe the little bugger managed to hide from me so long). Updates? Well, work is being a pain at the moment, and if you get up at seven AM and get home at seven PM, you don't find much motivation to write. It has given me some time to think out the plot, which has gone through considerable changes (though I blame my recent Nanoha addiction for that).

Is it in progress? Yes. Will it be out soon? Dunno, but don't count on it.

**Mahou**** no Shinobi**

Chapter 3: New place, new start

Naruto was exhausted from using so much mana in one day, not to mention flying in itself was a totally new experience for both him and his muscles. He was sore all over.

Not having much energy left, Naruto reached under his bed and lifted a loose plank. His 'secret stash' was where he kept the few things that were of value to him. One of them was the tome that had helped him beat Sasuke today. Right now, though, he was more interested in increasing his mana pool rather then learning more spells. He could always do that while waiting for Kakashi, though the practice of the spells would of course have to wait.

He began reading where he had left of; the book had advised him to test some of the spells in the field before continuing. Naruto grinned, remembering the look on Sasuke´s face. Now there were was a test he enjoyed.

_Now that__ you have some experience using spells in the field, you must have noticed that despite the fact that you used mana, you still got tired eventually, correct? This is because the body can only channel so much energy at a time, after which the body needs rest in order to recuperate. In order to increase the amount of spells you can cast before exhausting yourself, you must train in the spells you have learned, casting them continuously will eventually cause you body to adapt to the flow of mana, increasing the amount of mana that can flow through your body and thereby increasing the number of spells you can cast._

_Another way to master a spell is to analyse the spell, technically dissecting it to its base algorithms and calculations. This will both give a better understanding of the spell, as well as increase your mana pool and can be done while travelling or resting.__ Given enough practice, this might even enable you to master spells from books quicker, or create your very own original spells._

_Caution: If you continue__ to cast spells while your body is exhausted, you will risk an affliction known as mana burn. Mana burn occurs when the body is too exhausted to be able to channel mana effectively, the exhaustion combined with the lapses of concentration that come with it will cause the body to use other energies, including ones life force. Loss of life force will lead to eventual death. When too exhausted to cast spells, do not continue to force mana. Avoid mana burn at all cost. _

Oookay, so mana burn was bad. Duly noted. And he could practice spell analysis right now, seeing how he was too tired to do any practical training. Grabbing a decently sized empty notebook with a black cover and a pencil, Naruto hummed to himself as he tried to think of a spell to first analyze. He could, of course, take an easy one… but then; why not take one that might take while? That decided, he wrote down a name he had read in his book. A name that, even there, was only considered a legend.

_Ruby-eye__ Shabranigdu._

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The next day was mission day, and team 7 was gathered at the bridge again, waiting for their sensei. Naruto, this time, armed with a black notebook, in which he was scribbling away notes. His two teammates observed him as he sat there, writing, occasionally glancing upwards for a moment as if calculating something before returning to scribbling again.

Sakura had once again tried to satisfy her rising curiosity, but this time Naruto never even gave her a chance. When she tried to look over his shoulder, he simply snapped his book shut before walking away to sit somewhere else, and continue whatever he was doing.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore, ever since yesterday Naruto was acting so incredibly weird! _"First he actually read a book, then acts all cold, then he claims to have won the race against Sasuke-kun, and now he's doing something, and won't let me see what he is doing!"_ Sakura decided to ask, even if only to satisfy curiosity. "Say, Naruto, what are you doing?"

Naruto glanced up to meet Sakura's eyes. He looked at her for a few seconds before turning back to his book. "Just a little hobby of mine." He answered.

A nerve began twitching on Sakura's head at the response. "And what is that little hobby of yours?"

Naruto never even looked up from his book this time as he answered. "Private."

A second vein had started twitching, and Sakura was gritting her teeth, itching to throttle the blond in front of her. Fortunately, or unfortunately if you look at it from Sakura's point of view, Kakashi chose this moment to show up.

"Yo, looks like everyone is energetic today. Good, good, because I got us a very important task today." Kakashi smiled as he waited for his teams reaction, but underneath he was worried. His fears were confirmed when Naruto merely got up and closed his book with a snap before placing it into the pouch on his side. It looked like Naruto's words yesterday were more then a simple 'cry for attention'

Restraining a troubled look from creeping unto his face, Kakashi guided his team towards the location of the next mission.

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Naruto let out a longing sigh. The so called 'important mission' turned out to be nothing more then yet another routine 'clean the hotel rooms' D-rank mission. It wouldn't have been so bad if the employer hadn't been so adamant that Naruto was not doing his job good. No matter how many times he cleaned a room, there would always be something that wasn't good.

Of course, Naruto knew perfectly well why there would always be something dirty in the room. Words like 'thank you' and 'good job' weren't used towards demons after all. Not to mention the near constant glare the employer was sending his way. However, unlike previous times where he would just stay smile, this time he returned the glare with his own.

Kakashi, too, was noticing the level of criticism aimed towards Naruto. When he had told his team about the mission, he decided to watch Naruto a little bit closer. As he had suspected, without the blonde thread holding the team together, teamwork in team 7 had taken a turn for the worst. Without Naruto tempting Sasuke to give it his all, and dragging Sakura in pursuit, work was more sluggish then ever. Naruto turned out to be the heart of teamwork in team 7, which is why Kakashi wanted to find a way to bring the old Naruto back.

But as he watched Naruto, and the way he was treated by their employers, he began to understand the sudden change. Especially when his teammates, the comrades who should have defended him, joined the employers in criticizing him. Kakashi began to wonder if life was always like this for Naruto.

If it was, then Kakashi wouldn't be surprised to wake up one day and hear Naruto had pulled an Itachi. The mere thought of a village wide massacre like the Uchiha one send cold shivers down his spine.

Kakashi had originally decided to lecture Naruto on his lack of teamwork ever since the race, but he decided he would not add to the amount if criticism Naruto received today. He would, however, discuss Naruto's condition with the Hokage. The aging man had more influence on Naruto then even his old academy teacher did.

In the end, Kakashi order Sasuke and Sakura to help Naruto. As soon as Sasuke had swept the floor once, the employer had thanked them for their hard work, and praised Sasuke for doing what 'the idiot in orange' was incapable of doing. Kakashi shook his head at the obvious lie, but Sasuke merely threw an arrogant smirk towards Naruto. And Sakura… laughed at him.

Still, they made their way to the Hokage tower in relative silence.

"Team 7 reporting, mission complete." Kakashi said.

"Ahh, Good work team 7. Unfortunately, there are no more missions today, so you are dismissed."

"We would have been earlier if it wasn't for Naruto-baka slowing us down!" Sakura shouted as she moved to knock the blonde on his head. Said blonde however, merely sidestepped the slow fist as it came downwards.

The Hokage coughed, focusing the team's attention back on him. "Whatever the reason, today is over. Your payments will be transferred to your accounts as usual."

Sakura bowed, Naruto waved, and Sasuke merely turned around as the team walked out, Sakura complaining against Naruto about how slow he was with cleaning today. Kakashi, however, remained behind.

"Is something the matter, Kakashi?" Sandaime asked.

"Yes… yes there is." Kakashi said grimly. "It's about Naruto."

"Oh? Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe. "And? What exactly is wrong?"

"Hokage-sama! Surely you have noticed it just now, this Naruto is completely different from the one we're used to!"

Adjusting the pipe in his mouth, Sarutobi gave Kakashi a hard stare. "And what do you think is the cause of this… change?"

Kakashi sighed. "Well, it started during the training run at area 88 a few days ago. Naruto and Sasuke turned it into a race instead of the survival run it was first meant to be. This was not unexpected, but what was is that Naruto unexpectedly won the race, Naruto somehow learned Katon jutsu, judging by the incinerated dummies. And lately he shows a lot of Sasuke-ish behavior. Personally, I think the treatment of this village is finally getting to him, and he is getting desperate, if he resorts to try and be more like Sasuke."

Sarutobi sighed as he listened to Kakashi's analysis. He didn't know the boy at all. Kakashi described Naruto's situation as 'the hate finally getting to him' while the hate had done so long ago. What Kakashi was seeing now was nothing more then the discarding of an emotional mask, but Kakashi failed to see that. In his eyes, the 'imperfect' Naruto wanted to be more like the 'perfect' Sasuke.

It would be easily solved just telling Kakashi the truth, but those secrets were Naruto's to tell, and Naruto's alone. "Kakashi, your hypothesis is good, but nowhere near close. I will not tell you exactly what is wrong, but I will tell you that you do not have to worry about Naruto."

"But Hokage-sama! Teamwork in team 7 is at an all time low; by this rate they won't be ready for the Chuunin exams!"

"And that is bad, how? I know the council is putting pressure on you to get Sasuke promoted as soon as possible, and I know you want him promoted as soon as possible as well, but if the team gets killed in the exams, does that really matter?"

"Well, no, but…"

"And one more thing, Kakashi, you put a change in Naruto as the cause of teamwork in your team collapsing. But is it really Naruto's fault that the teamwork has grown sour? As I recall, neither Sakura not Sasuke have open and accepting attitudes either."

Kakashi found it hard to deny that. "But I could always depend on Naruto to get the team together when it mattered, without that-"

"You will just have to work hard at changing the other two then." Sarutobi interrupted. "From what you have told me, the only thing that happened is that Naruto grew tired of always being put down by his team. Judging by how they acted while reporting the mission, I would have to agree with Naruto that this cannot go on. I have already made arrangements that will make Naruto's life more acceptable to deal with, but it is up to you to make his team more acceptable to deal with."

"But-"

"That is all, Kakashi. You are dismissed."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to protest, but held his tongue. He bowed towards the Hokage as he vanished. Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe before he hit a button on his desk. "Send Uzumaki Naruto back in now."

Moments later, the door opened and Naruto once more stood in front of Sarutobi. Putting his pipe aside, he rested his chin on his folded hands. "Naruto, as you probably already know, your apartments, food supplies, and water and electricity bills –in other words, your current living conditions- are way below the norm." Naruto snorted at this. "Therefore, I have found a new and hopefully better location for you to live. You can move in right now."

"Hah?" Naruto said as he tilted his head in confusion.

Moments later, he was standing outside the doors of a rather… large inn. Naruto blinked as he read the directions that the old man had given him once again. Shiawase. Nope, this was the place. "Well, might as well give it a shot." He mumbled to himself as he stepped forward and opened the slide doors. "Hello? Anyone here?"

"Yo, you must be the new resident." A girl appeared from the corner, arms folded. She was probably around sixteen, judging by her face. Flaming red eyes and blue hair tied up in a ponytail on the back, except for two large locks of hair which hang to the sides of her head, held together by pink hair ties with gold colored bells. She smiled at him smile, though it looked more like a grin in Naruto's eyes. "Uzumaki Naruto, right? C'mon, I'll show you your room."

Naruto only nodded dumbly with a muttered acknowledgment before following his new landlady. As he stepped in, he realized that the house seemed so big because it was build around a large garden. The garden existed of a large field of grass with a pond in the centre. Trees and bushes were scattered around the garden, though they were more concentrated near the pond. Next to the pond was also a small hill of rocks with a small automated waterfall. Apart from the main entrance, all of the doors faced inwards on the garden. Naruto stared at the sight in admiration before the voice of the landlady shook him out of his reverie.

"First, a couple of rules. We don't house many Shinobi here, in fact most of the current residents are high school or college students. A bit weird, at times a bit powerful, so normal isn't the right word… but rule number one is not to practice any destructive ninja technique in or around Shiawase. Sparing is fine, as long as you stick to _normal_ sparring. No chakra enhanced punches that will break walls. Rule number two kinda speaks for itself, don't bother the other residents. Complaints are dealt with by me. Of course, if you have a complaint about one of the other residents, I will listen to you as well." The girl put her right elbow in her hand and held her chin in thought. "That's all I can think of; the jiji said he'd take care of your bills. Dunno what you did, but he seems to like you. Ah, we're here."

They stopped in front of a room with the number 7 on it. Naruto grinned at the irony. When the landlady opened the door, Naruto could feel his mouth fall open.

Passing the small hall, he saw that the room was large, nearly twice the size of his previous apartment. The floor was covered with a traditional tatami flooring, it had a bed in the far right corner, and a desk in the other one. The corner to their immediate right had a kitchen, with a bar-like table shielding it from the rest of the room, while the left had a big couch and a TV.

"It's just the basics, so you'll have to fill in the rest yourself. There's no food yet, though."

Naruto turned to the landlady with a huge smile on his face. I real smile. "No, this is perfect. Thank you, miss…"

The landlady winked. "Saki, Akasaka Saki."

"Thank you, Akasaka-san."

"Saki."

"E-eh?"

"It's Saki, not Akasaka-san. Sa-ki."

Naruto blinked. He had recently learned from the old man that referring to a person by their first name meant they had a fair level of familiarity. Of course, since he already was 'close' to his classmates, he still called them by their first names. Besides, it was part of his mask to be blunt.

But here was someone whom he felt comfortable with to lower his mask, and since she was almost four years his age he felt a bit uncomfortable being so… familiar.

Still, when in rome…

"Thank you, ah, Saki-san."

Saki grinned, and a hand landed forcefully on Naruto's shoulder. "Good, then I'll be getting back to work. You go get settled, transfer your stuff, go get food." She turned around and started to walk away, only to stop after a few steps. "Oh, before I forget." She turned around. "Welcome to Shiawase."

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Naruto let out an exhausted sigh as he put away the last box. Having almost no personal belongings meant that, technically, Naruto didn't have much work to do. But when you have to move those heavy boxes all by yourself, that complicates things. After that, he had gone shopping. Using the same trick as at the library, he had transformed into his magi form before going shopping. As a result his supplies were now bigger then ever before, not to mention filled with things other then cheap instant ramen, and he still had money left. It helped when people weren't charging you triple the normal prices.

He had just finished organizing his room, too. The desk was now filled with writing utensils and books, his prized spell book and notebook in the centre. Between the desk and the couch now stood a giant bookshelf, filled with not only scrolls –which would be expectable from a ninja- but also a greater part of books. All in all, Naruto was pleased with the result.

The sound of knuckles hitting wood drew Naruto's attention. "It's open!" He called, expecting it to be either the old man or Saki. He was proven wrong, though, when a brown haired, brown eyed girl wearing a pink Chinese shirt appeared in the open door.

"Heeeh?" The girl said as she observed Naruto, her eyes coming to rest on his hitai-ate. "So it's true, the new resident _is_ a ninja." She smiled, taking of her shoes before entering, sitting down on her knees in front of him. "My name is Tenten, I graduated last year, but I'm still a genin. I live in room 3."

Naruto grinned. "Uzumaki Naruto, team 7, I graduated this year so I'm obviously still a genin too. Yoroshiku." _(pleased to meet you)_

Tenten smiled. "It's good to have another ninja living here, up until now I was the only one. Ah! But that's not what I'm here for, come on we've got to go!" She said jumping up and gesturing for Naruto to follow her.

"Eh? Go? Go where?" Naruto said as he scrambled up.

"To the welcoming party, of course!" Tenten said as she struggled to put on her sandals. "Even Hokage-sama came!"

"Oji-san?" Naruto echoed. Tenten looked at him for a moment before shaking hear head, though she did so with a smile on her face.

"You're as bad as Saki-chan. He's the village leader, you know? And you go around calling him an old man?"

Naruto simply shrugged. "What? It's true, he is an old man!"

Tenten shook her head in resignation and pulled him along. "Never mind, come on! We'll be late!"

Naruto got no chance to utter any word of protest as he was dragged into the garden, where a group of people were waiting for them. Naruto recognized Saki, who was sitting cross legged on top of the small hill, and the old man, who was sitting near two other people on a cloth. When Tenten and Naruto arrived, Saki looked up from her seated position, and turned to the rest with a huge grin on her face.

"Yo! He's here, let's get this party started!"

As one, everybody cheered and Naruto was showered in 'welcomes' handshakes and pats to the back. After the moment died down, A girl with orange-pink hair, calm everywhere except for one lock that stood out like an antenna, stood up with a mike in hand "Yoooosh, now that everyone is here, we should start with introductions. My name is Momono Megumi, 20 years old. You probably won't see me often, since I study at a college far away, so I'm glad I got to be here today! My favorite hobby is reporting, and camerawork. I live in room 2. Next up, Kenichi!"

The mike was handed to a brown haired boy, who accepted it slightly nervously. "My name is Shirahame Kenichi. 18 years old and living in room 4. I aspire to be a great martial artist, and my favourite hobby is therefore training at the Ryouzanpaku dojo, at the edge of Konoha." He smiled at Naruto, who returned it, before handing the mike to the next person, a young blonde haired girl, with her hair tied up in a short, bouncy ponytail.

"My name is Oe Chizuko from room 5, 14 years old, My hobbies include eating, and finding the most delicious meals available." She made a victory sign towards Naruto, who chuckled. This girl reminded him of his mask in ramen-mode. She then handed the mike to Tenten.

"Naruto already heard a part of this, but since I left a few things out, I'll finish it now. My name is Tenten, 13 years old. I graduated last year from the Konoha ninja academy, but I'm still a genin. I live in room 3. My greatest ambition is to show the world that Kunoichi are not weaker then men, and can be even greater, like the densetsu no sannin Tsunade."

Next the mike was given to a girl with long purple flowing hair. Though she looked amazingly cute, especially in the light orange school uniform with a darker orange colored skirt, Naruto got a strange vibe from her. "My name is Watarashi Jun, 15 years old. I like shopping and sports. I live in room 6."

Megumi smirked and snatched the mike from Jun. "And a small detail _he_ is leaving out right now is that he is probably the prettiest boy in all of Konoha."

"Momono-san!" Jun yelled in annoyance.

"_I knew it!" _Naruto thought.

Megumi shrugged and handed the mike to a dark haired boy, his hair spiky, but held in place slightly by a bandana. "Toukai Hibiki. 17 years. I like working with mechanics, so I am studying to be a mechanic. I live in room 1." Tossing the mike to Saki, he sat back and gave a grin to Naruto.

Saki caught the mike and stood up from her sitting positions. "I am Akasaka Saki, but you already know that. Call me Saki and we'll have no problems unless you make them. I'm 16 years old, and the landlady of Shiawase. I like doing things. It doesn't matter what, as long as I don't have to sit still while doing it. I also like everyone who lives here, at Shiawase. They all are important people to me, and I'm not afraid to add more. So once more, I welcome you to Shiawase." She smiled at the massive welcome and applause before handing the mike to Naruto and pushing him up the rocky hill.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, 12 years old and new resident in room 7. I… don't really know what to say to your kindness. In one day, I have been shown more love by a garden filled with total strangers then my life in my old apartment." Naruto sighed and lowered his head. "You… will have to forgive me though. Have lived a life in which I cannot trust others so easily, so despite the fact that I really want to, I cannot afford to trust you so easily."

A loud snort drew the attention of the audience, and everyone turned to Hibiki, who was sitting with a smirk on his face. As the attention set on him, he looked up. "So?" he queried. "We all have our black spots in the past; I myself have been in a position where I wasn't sure I could trust anyone not to long ago. Building trust takes time, that's something I learned. I don't know what you've been through, most of us won't since we don't get in Konoha much, but don't think that just because you won't trust us immediately we're going to isolate you."

Chizoku and Jun were nodding in agreement, while the rest simply smiled their agreement with Hibiki's statement. Naruto felt his heart swell even more.

Sarutobi smiled. Truly, he found that he made a good choice. Seeing Naruto happy like this made him remember the joys of being Hokage. "Then I will leave you to your party. Saki-san, I entrust Naruto to your care. Have fun."

As Sarutobi left, Naruto found himself dragged back to the cloth, where all manners of food were produced. The part lasted till late in the night, and for Naruto, he felt better then ever.

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Review time with Kyuubi and Yasei

Yasei stretches his arms and grins "Well, that's all for this chapter, hope you enjoyed it. I decided that I'd give Naruto at least some decent and friendly company to live with, who know his second secret. Makes you wonder were Sarutobi dug them up. They won't have a major impact on the story, but they will serve to stabilize Naruto's non-ninja life. And yes, each of the residents can be backtracked to an anime, but only two are from the same one. Anyway, on to the reviews. Kyuubi, take it away!"

"**Right!****" **Kyuubi reads the list of reviews and growls. **"There's a lot of reviews this time, it's better if we just gather the questions and answer them instead of answering each review. Otherwise this part will get larger then the main story, not that I care, since it gives me more screen time, but…"**

"I get your point."

"**Good. First and foremost, we should cover a question two of the readers have posted. It concerns chapter 2's familiarity with 'Lies and Deceit' care to explain that away?"**

Yasei shrugs. "It's true. Lies in Deceit was, and still is, the greatest source of inspiration for this fic. I tried to simply use it as an inspiration, but by the looks of it I failed miserably with chapter 2. It's one of the reasons I scrapped the conversation between Naruto and Kakashi that was planned in this chapter."

"**Next question, when does this fic take place**** in the timeline? Some people are confused as to when it is."**

"This fic takes place after wave, but before the Chuunin exams. I really didn't feel the need to go through wave, as nothing would up until the point where this story began.

"**There are lots of questions and suggestion as to the spell list you are using. People wonder w****hether you use the Tales spell list, Slayers spell list or D&D. **

"A little bit of all, I guess. I pick em as I go. Up until now, I've used offensive spells from the Tales list, and supportive spells from the Slayers list. D&D spells will make an appearance as well, as well as Mahou Sensei Negima."

"**Next, a lot of people are asking if you are planning to train Naruto physically, or whether he will still learn jutsu."**

Yasei gets up and starts pacing around his room. "I have been thinking about that too, but I decided not too. You see, I can choose to train Naruto physically, but if I place myself into Naruto's mindset, would I do it? The answer is no. Think about it, if you have something unique, wouldn't you rather use that then something thousands of others can do as well? There is little reason to train Naruto physically, as mana is mental energy. He will be able to handle himself in a brawl, but win a one on one hand-to-hand fight against someone who trains in it will be impossible. As Chakra is formed by mixing physical and mental energies, or in other words, chi and mana. These three energies are each an entirely different type. The details of this will be explained later, but chakra only needs a small amount of mana, which is the only amount a human being can call upon without a magi form or staff. The bulk of it exists of chi.

"**There are people who are wondering how Naruto will hide his girl form in the Chuunin exams. Care to take a leap at that?"**

"I won't reveal anything too spoilerish, but remember: 'Number one Surprising ninja' is for a reason."

"**That's it for the bulk of the questions. The rest are too detailed to go into, we don't need author notes bigger then the chapter itself. Any last questions for the reviewers?"**

"Actually, yes. Two. The first is simple: Should the chuunin exams start next chapter, or should I do another 'Naruto's personal life' chapter?

As for the second, should Naruto's magi form be identified in the chuunin exams (as in, people will know its Naruto) or should he be known as 'the mysterious girl?' I've got ideas for both, and neither choice will affect the eventual plot too much. But even with identification, it will be limited to team 7 alone. Comical effects and all that."


End file.
